Chapter 25
The two remaining Clansmen - Smitty and Smurf - went first. Shields on backs, swords secured, they solidly crunched their way up, one step at a time, keeping their eyes fixed forward. Next came Tavia, moving lightly, seemingly oblivious to the strange, other-worldly surroundings. And then, last of all, Spiker, dragging himself up, feeling old, tired and slow. Everything about this place was wrong: the steps; the light; the sense he had lost direction and the strong feeling he was now travelling through a never ending limbo.
After an hour - maybe more, probably less - Spiker had the surreal feeling he was going to be ascending for ever, a marionette in a bubble, plodding unceasingly upwards.
He stopped for a moment to look back. The steps descended from under his feet and quic
